Builders' Forum Archives

Re: decks-to glass or not

Posted by LeeG on Jul 18, 2004

You are doing the right thing if you are building it for your use. 4oz glass is primarily to provide surface hardness,durability against dings, and prevent dings from allowing water stains to develop through the edge grain at the rounded over sheer from impacts at the edge. With the extensive hatch hole reinforcements now included in the kits the likelyhood of deck cracking at the hatches is just about zero with/without deck glass. Without deck glass the possibility of deck cracking (not horror stories, many little cracks through the epoxy that allows for waterstaining)is likely with repeated rescue practice where you're climbing over the back deck or dragging yours or other kayaks across your coaming. If you're a heavy person doing rescues then glass under the aft deck between coaming and aft hatch isn't a bad idea with 4oz or 6oz deck glass AND another strip of 4mm ply under the aft deck at the hatch or midway. For those instances a 250lb person might want to sit ON the aft deck behind the cockpit at the waters edge. The "horror" stories I've seen/heard are ones where 4oz deck glass was about 1/3 the issue with under deck reinforcements and use the rest.